What is important to you?

My priorities are (in no order)
Home, Family, Testimony

I want to live my life with these values:

Simple
Green
Frugal
Natural
Healthy
Moral
Sustainable

I know I can't do this all in one day, so I want to change one little thing at a time.

How to get a FREE cedar fence

Apparently its not hard at all. All you have to do is remove some old leaning pine trees from the back corner of your property. Then pile up loads of dead branches, and dump all your compost right on the ground. Don't ever chop down the weeds either. Let them get as tall as you are and you are bound to get your free fence!

Ok honestly I do feel a little bad about letting the weeds go. They look atrocious and will spread like a nightmare. I have lots of excuses but they are admittedly pretty lame. I love the fence. :)

I do wonder about the timing.. This same neighbor walks the neighborhood everyday. My backyard has been the same for about a year. The privacy fence has only come up since the front yard garden was put in. I think he just hates ME more than my yard. He will leave the sidewalk and walk in the street to avoid me, and won't even say hi back when my 3yo waves and says hi.

Planting Party

Women from church came over for a gardening class so I had them out in the yard planting beans. They were so pretty.

The Banc

Restless thoughts today have yielded an idea.

I want to create a BANC.

Bucket of
All
Natural
Cleaners

How cute would that be.

I have a friend who cleans houses and she makes her own cleansers. Wouldn't it be great to make some buckets that contain ALL that you need to keep your home clean naturally, and cheaply.

They would make great gifts, wedding gifts, food storage items, etc. I will begin looking into this soon. Maybe we could do it as a group at my house. She could come over. The bucket would include all the scrubbies, spray bottles, etc, etc that you would need. Any ideas?

My first Salad

Ok it may be my first AND last because its hot here and I didn't get my lettuce started on time.

But it tasted wonderful. I even made a homemade italian salad dressing. So yummy.

There are Gentilina, chard, spinach, and a little bit of celery leaves.

Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and spices. Yum.

Clintonville Heros

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/06/21/lawngarden.ART_ART_06-21-09_B1_M1E8A8L.html

This is a link to an article in the Columbus Dispatch. It is about the two families in Columbus that have taken on the Lawn and won. They have their Food In Front too!

So cool.

Homestead Tour

I went with Simply Living to see this Homestead. They do all the things that I have always dreamt of doing. Of course seeing it in real life I realize its probably more work than I could handle. But it was a wonderful day, meeting like minded people, drinking raw milk (yum), and getting a wicked sunburn! So glad I went.

This is one of their two cute mini donkeys.

Followed by their giant hog.

They use this terrifying tower of doom to observe the wetlands they built on a part of their property.

These beauties are Dutch Belted Cows. A nearly extinct heirloom breed of cows. Good milkers and meat animals. Most heirloom breeds are hardy and dual purpose.

And this is a shot of their house. I LOVE the stairs.

Ran out of room for pics. Have to split this post up.